Charity
by CriminalConsultant
Summary: On a routine run to replenish their explosives supply, Sebastian gives Jim an early Christmas present and gets to test out some explosives too.


In no time at all, every shop in London it seemed had been converted to a distasteful holiday exhibition. Even with the meagre bit of snow that managed to cling to the streets, the stores fully embraced the Christmas season. Though London had always been a populus but impersonal city, holidays led to an influx of travellers and false cheer that made walking the streets nearly unbearable for anyone hoping to avoid social interactions.

Jim led Sebastian down the street back to their flat, opting to walk in the light snow rather than get a cab to travel the relatively short distance. Awkwardly, Sebastian shifted the heavy backpack on his shoulder; he was always uncomfortable walking in populated areas immediately after jobs. Though people rarely paid them any attention, he often felt that he smelled a bit too much like blood or that it was far too obvious that he was toting a rifle around on his back. Today hadn't been close range torture, however, which eased his fears of organic materials noticeably staining his clothes as he walked past excitable holiday shoppers. Instead, he was forced to remind himself with each consecutive step that he was carrying enough explosives to excite even the most stoic pyrotechnic.

They had been off to meet a new dealer to replenish their explosives cache and purchase a stock of nitroglycerin for a job next month. This new guy had surprisingly met Jim's standards; often their suppliers ranged from naive boys that learned how to make pipe bombs at uni or con men that would try to sell empty bags of semtex if you gave them half a chance. Max, as he called himself, god knows Sebastian wouldn't hold it against him if he didn't use his real name, was more of a professional than most arsonists they dealt with. He had been ex-military so Sebastian got on with him well which made him easier to trust in Jim's eyes.

Jim, now as Sebastian noticed, was walking a few feet in front of Seb who had started to trail behind. Better yet, a woman was beginning to harass him for charity, shoving her collection tin underneath his nose. Much to his surprise, instead of shooing the woman away, Jim reached into his pocket and dropped its contents into her bucket with a smile. She was thanking him and yelling 'Merry Christmas' when Sebastian finally caught up he was already rounding the corner.

"I didn't take you for the heartwarming Christmas spirit type." He accused.

Jim made a small noncommittal noise in response.

"You don't carry change, Jim."

He repeated the noise once more before Sebastian heard a small explosion from where they had just been, followed by horrified screams as people began to run in any direction.

"I do carry impact explosives though."

Sebastian looked poised to reprimand him before laughing suddenly, "Fuck it, I'm not your moral compass."

Jim turned to grin slightly, "That and you've stopped trying to impress your strict moral code upon me?"

"Strictly amoral, maybe."

Once they entered their flat, Sebastian left to empty out his bag on the kitchen counter, leaving Jim to shake off the snow from his jacket before he replaced it in the closet and joined him. Quietly he watched Sebastian piece out each item, stacking them with care until the bag was empty and could be dropped onto the tile floor.

"Everything there?"

"I believe so" Sebastian counted the parcels quickly before he could answer him difinitively, "I had almost forgotten what thirty pounds of semtex looked like."

"It has been a while since we've just outright blown something up, hasn't it?"

"That it has, have you got any plans for all of this?"

"Not immediately. Why, did you want to do something?"

Sebastian felt himself smile at that, "Well that would be your call, boss."

"You stopped being my employee a long time ago, Seb" Jim leaned over the stack of explosives to kiss him.

"It's not that easy to stop working for you." He fondly ran his thumb across Jim's jaw before moving in to meet his lips once more; only mildly surprised that Jim let him.

"We should move all of this into the warehouse." Jim announced as he extracted himself from Sebastian's grip, "May as well do that tonight."

Sebastian nodded and set about repacking the backpack, within a half hour they were in a cab headed to the storehouse. The inside of the large building was darker than Sebastian had ever seen it; despite the blackness of the room Jim was still able to find the light switch easily, flicking it on and waiting until each row of fluorescent lights clicked on. Without the usual men lingering around with rifles, it looked much more abandoned. Jim led him through the main room, branching off into a narrow hallway that led either to a set of metal stairs or down another labyrinthe that eventually brought them to a vault room.

Installed weeks after Jim bought the property, the vault too separated into its distant segments. For their purposes, Jim led them into the last room on the left, he entered his passcode before the heavy metal door slowly slid open.

"Jim?" Sebastian shrugged off the backpack and handed it to Jim when he turned, "Would you mind taking care of this? I've just recalled something I need to do."

Jim raised an eyebrow curiously, but nevertheless took the bag from Sebastian and entered the vault.

True to their suspicions, the vault had indeed gotten very low as far as explosives were concerned. Methodically, Jim organised their most recent purchases into their corresponding chambers until he had emptied the bag. As an afterthought, he returned to the semtex and put a kilo back into the bag.

"Just in case." He muttered as he zipped the bag and tossed it onto his shoulder.

He left, locking the door to the vault, and made his way through the hallways back towards the main room.

"Sebastian?"

As he entered the main room he was made aware of a figure that hadn't been there before; once he got closer it became apparent that the figure was also tied to a chair wearing a santa hat. Confused, he looked over to Sebastian who was grinning stupidly and eyeing Jim in obvious anticipation.

"Early Christmas present."

"You got me a man in a santa hat?" Jim asked, carefully trying to conceal the smile that was threatening to form, "You're terrible at wrapping."

"Ah, ah, don't forget the best part!" He motioned to the choking man, who was desperately trying to spit out a gag.

As he caught sight of the trail of cordtex snaking out of the man's mouth to dangle by his ankle Jim let out an amused laugh before smiling up at Sebastian. It was a very odd moment for Jim to realise how much he loved the infuriating man, but given the nature of their relationship it did not strike him as strange at all. Sebastian lit the fuse and took Jim's hand to take him a safe distance away as the man's muffled screams grew more and more urgent.

It took less than a minute for the flame to reach it mark, ripping through the man's throat as it did so. In a display that one could only describe as a more morbid version of fireworks, the man was silenced and his head fell to his chest supported by the remnants of his neck.

"Tis the season." Sebastian whispered as he leaned down to kiss Jim's forehead.

"I don't believe this is the idea most people have when they think of Christmas."

"Yeah, well this is more fun."

Jim allowed the taller man to gently tilt his chin up to kiss him once more, lightly he gripped onto Sebastian's shirt to bring him in closer.

"You're in rare form tonight." He commented.

"Just shut up and kiss me."


End file.
